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Area Plans
2023–26
Sunderland is a fantastic, forward-looking city undergoing significant transformation and economic regeneration. It has a global reputation as a welcoming and inclusive place in which to live, work, invest and play.
To ensure the transformation of Sunderland continues to support residents within the City at an area community level, we have refreshed our Area Plans which provide the blueprint for all partners and communities to work together, at an area level to achieve our shared economic and social ambitions for Sunderland, which will enable the city and its people to achieve their full potential. Ambitions include ensuring:
- The city and its residents have the resilience to mitigate ongoing challenges, including the cost-of living crisis, and emerge in a healthy and sustainable position
- Sunderland offers the opportunities that families and individuals need to achieve their ambitions
- Families are resilient and resourceful to respond to challenges and achieve the best possible outcomes for their children
- Health and wellbeing outcomes are significantly improved
- Residents' skills and qualifications enable them to secure good jobs matching the needs of employers in the city's key sectors, and
- Sunderland will play its role in tackling the global challenge of climate change, working together across the city to be carbon neutral by 2040.
The five Area Committees, through the delivery of their Area Plans will work together on these ambitions and to achieve this, the Area Plans replicate the City Plan themes:
- Dynamic Smart City
- Healthy Smart City
- Vibrant Smart City
The city's people and communities are at the heart of the Area Plans, which are already being delivered at pace by the local Councillors from within each Area Committee, supported by wider Council services and city partners.
An important element of the Area Plans is the accompanying Area Delivery Plan which includes a delivery timeline for each year from 2023 onwards to 2026, The detailed delivery plan articulates to communities within each of the five areas of Sunderland, as well as businesses and all stakeholders, of what each Area Committee is doing to achieve their vision to enable the delivery of the wider City Plan and to create a connected, international city with opportunities for all.
The Area Plans are the Area Committees’ strategic plan for the period 2023 to 2026.
Progress is managed through the Council’s Area Arrangements, supported directly by all Council services, who are reviewing their service plans to enable and support the delivery of the Area Plans. Corporate Performance Management arrangements also include the quarterly Corporate Performance Reports to Area Committee.
All Council Service leads, when producing Service Plans this year and moving forward, have provided a list of Area Priorities, where relevant, for each of the Areas and agreed to provide quarterly updates in terms of performance against those priorities. Likewise key partners have provided their plans for future activity in all five areas for the coming months and years. All have agreed that those plans be appended to the Area Committee Area Plans. Providing quarterly updates so Area Committee can look to review and consider opportunities to influence delivery through bringing their local knowledge and intelligence to future decision making, as well as considering where they wish to support projects with ‘added value.’ Organisations are working together to ensure the best outcome for the resident.
Additionally, Service leads have been invited to work in partnership with Area Committees via their Area Boards. This has allowed a more systematic approach for elected members to influence service planning and delivery. Members bringing their local knowledge and intelligence and sharing outcomes of projects delivered via Area Committee resources, to achieve this, as well as, considering where they wish to support projects with own resources and provide ‘added value’.
Area Committees will ensure the delivery of the priorities over the lifetime of their Area Plans (2023 – 2026), this will include the monitoring of performance of projects funded via Area Committee resources and receiving update reports from Council Services and Partners on a quarterly basis. Additionally, Area Committees will conduct an annual review of performance and priorities at the end of each financial year to ensure priorities remain in keeping with local need.
Area Committee Area Plan performance will also now be shared more widely to provide an increased opportunity to share the learning from the delivery of Area Committee projects and ensure that Area Committees have the opportunity to inform transformational change in a systematic way. This will include sharing learning with the City Board, Children’s and Adults Partnerships, Health and Wellbeing Board and associated Delivery Boards, partner plans including emerging ICB Place Planning, Safer Sunderland Partnership and the Community Wealth Strategy Steering Group.
As a result of this approach there are likely to be implications for a number of other services to both enable the delivery of the five Area Committee Area Plans, as well as review/influence change in current service delivery at an area level. Those services will be fully engaged in this new approach and specifically relevant Assistant Directors/Service Leads are to be the liaison person with Area Committees to agree on any changes to service provision.
Through the delivery of the Area Committee Area Plans, Sunderland has a real opportunity to transform and create more resilient communities and to influence and enable positive community behaviours. Area Committees will be at the heart of this transformation journey.
In line with the council's, and our partners' approach to carbon reduction and cost saving, the Area Plans are published electronically only.
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